Athena's Pov

“How do I look?”

I swirl in the dress but his eyes still remain serious. I wonder if he ever smiles. And I wonder if he'll ever drop his gaze to my legs.

I've purposely worn the shortest one piece I have with spaghetti straps that show a decent amount of cleavage and hem that lifts up my ass if I bend the slightest.

I wanted him to take a peak at what I'm offering but he's adamant on staying a gentleman.

“You look good, little one.” He finally says.

That's the nickname he gave me last night just before his shift ended. I made an origami dinosaur for his youngest son and he was so grateful for the gesture that the word just slipped his mouth.

I still have twenty four days left in this hell house but Eric’s presence is making this easy. We talk a lot. He told me he has three kids, his twins are twelve and the last is three.

He taught me how to make a french braid which he learned for his wife in college. He’s quite the romantic. I like men who put effort into such small things just to make their partner happy. Eric’s the type who’d do anything for his girl and don't just leave her for no valid reason.

He’s also trying to teach me how to whistle and tricks to pick up men —he agreed I'm already good at the latter. He believes it's all about confidence and how you carry yourself because every man wants what others desire.

If you show them you are the most ‘in demand’ then they'll come after you like a puppy.

But I've always had men attracted to me because they think I'm naive and gullible. No one likes it when I'm not as dumb as they assumed. I haven't had anyone who appreciated my boldness.

“Thanks.” I bait my eyelashes at me, giving him a cheeky smile.

I think I really like Eric. He’s been so good to me. Definitely better than how the trio has been treating me. I wish he was my father.

But since that's impossible now, I'll get what I can from him. If not one relationship then the other would work. All I need is a tag so he's obliged to take care of me.

“Well you look sexy.” I say with a flirty edge to my voice. “As always.”

“I'll take your word for it.” He says and straightens up to look ahead.

I hate when he does that. He always acts like we weren't just talking and he was only entertaining our conversation because it's part of his job.

But I get him. The Konstantinos brothers are fucked up people, who knows when they'll misunderstand something and fire him from his job.

“I'll see you around then.” I say and he nods.

He has a limit of words he speaks to me each day. If I stay over that set amount of words, he starts nodding and looking away.

I wonder if it's because there's a CCTV camera where he's stationed…

Of course that must be the reason. Why else would he ignore me? He likes me, if not romantically atleast platonically. Who won't be charmed by me? I'm the hottest stuff there is.

I'm two doors away from my room when I accidentally bump my foot into the small table in the hallway and knock over a vase which shattered in front of my eyes.

I kept looking at the broken pieces, not moving an inch from my awkward position. It was expensive. I'm sure of it. I've looked up prices of a few random items in the mansion and each one came at a ridiculous amount.

This vase was definitely worth more than me.

The triplets are gonna kill me for it.

I gulped seeing the mess and finally straightened up, correcting my dress. As I started to come up with ideas on what to do next, my heart started beating faster than ever.

My only hope; grandpa was asleep. I couldn't wake him up cause he's taken his medicines and I should let him rest.

I take out my phone to dial Tristan's number but then stop remembering he must be in class. I wanted him to tell me what to do but now I'm truly fucked.

Gosh, I feel so lost without him!

If I thought it couldn't get worse, it could. Two staff members turned the corner out and their sight fell on me then on the floor. There was no denying it now.

“Um… it just happened…” I don't know why I was telling them this.

They looked at each other then back at me, confused on what to do. “We’ll clean that up.” One of them said to me and they left to possibly bring the cleaning equipment.

I have to do something. Before the trio knows from someone else I have to tell them. Or they’ll think I was trying to hide it.

I rush to the hallway where their offices are. Sometimes one of them works from home —to try and snatch my grandpa by showing fake concern— and today Ares has decided to be locked up in his home office so he's the one I have to confess to.

I read the name on the plate beautifully crafted into the door. After taking three deep breaths I finally gained enough courage to knock on it.

As I wait for some sound to come from the other side, the panic starts getting worse. Then I remember Eric telling me the offices are soundproof.

I look beside the door frame and find a small button. I press it to notify him of my presence and patiently wait again. After a few seconds the door finally opened up by Alex.

He looks me up and down and raises an eyebrow. I can feel he isn't judging me, he’s rather surprised. Possibly because I have the guts to come here or maybe dress like I am.

“Hi.” I give him an awkward smile. “Is Ares here?”

He nods and opens the door wider to let me pass through. It's weird meeting him again, since the last time he saw me, I was crying my eyes out scared of losing my grandpa.

When I stepped in, I spotted the other two people in the room. Ares sits on the chair at the opposite side while another man probably in his late twenties stands in front of him.

Their gaze fell on me and drifted to the end of my mini dress. The only difference being, when their eyes came up to my face, Ares’ was pissed but the stranger liked what he saw.

“What?” Ares asked, sounding irritated.

I was already feeling so embarrassed by what I had done and now he's being rude to me in front of outsiders. Not to mention he wants me to speak in their presence which is even worse.

I should’ve gone through with the plan of killing them.

“Actually I…” I look towards the two men in the room, hoping Ares would get the signal.

“You…?” He mocked.

I inhaled a breath. I should be used to this by now. They always act so immature. And they have a special fondness for making me feel miserable.

I shouldn't take it personally. They're dick to everyone. It shouldn't hurt if they hate me. I don't care what they think of me.

“I was going to my room but you know there's so many tables that's misplaced in the hallway. I mean who put them right where people will be walking. It's just a recipe for disasters. Honestly if I was your interior decorator I would’ve totally fired myself-”

“Are you here to give me tips on how to furnish?” He was clearly losing his patience.

“Maybe she's here to ask for a job, as your new incompetent interior decorator.” The stranger chuckled.

The embarrassment flushes my cheeks and I move my gaze to the ground. No matter how confident I may be, when an adult vividly insults me —only when I am indeed guilty of something— I feel lost at comebacks.

I would be a fool to expect any one of the asshole brothers to support me against anyone. They would rather join in on the fun.

Ares stays silent. He doesn't even bother looking at the man that roasted my rambling. It doesn't matter to him if I don't like something. I'm not his family.

“I broke your vase.” I blurt out.

I don't look up to see his reaction. He's not gonna be happy. They hate everything that I do even if it doesn't concern them. But right now he has the right to be mad at me because this is his matter.

“I'm sorry.” I mumble loud enough for him to hear.

I can't pay him back. All I can do is apologize. And when has a man like him been satisfied with an apology? I'm sure he's gonna scold me in front of everyone.

“That's it?” He asks.

What else does he want me to do?

Get on my knees and ask for forgiveness?

Does he want me to work for him in return? Or maybe he expects to get his money back somehow. Or is he going to sue me- that would be quite foolish.

“Um… I'm so sorry, Mr Konstantinos. I really didn't mean to. It was an accident.”

I made the politest sentence I could. Maybe calling him so respectfully would give him some sort of sick satisfaction and he would let me go off the hook.

“Is that it? Did you just come here to tell me you broke a bloody vase?”

I finally take my eyes off my sneakers and look at him. His eyebrows are knit together in confusion as he stares at me.

“I… Yes, obviously.”

He shook his head at me. “Go back to your room, Athena. I have much more important things to deal with.”

“Don’t be so rude, Ares.” The stranger said.

I started considering if he actually isn't as bad as I thought. He’s even nice to look at. Maybe he was just joking earlier and I misunderstood. But then a smirk formed on his face and he spoke again proving my new theory wrong.

“Baby girl must’ve wanted an excuse to meet you. Enjoy the attention, man.” He winked at Ares.

I felt so horribly disgusted by his words. I am sixteen, how can he even think something must be going on between Ares and I.

I agree I've done much worse with older guys but I hate my name being joined with someone who could be my father.

And why would a grown man tease another with the reference of a minor?

Ares' expressions dropped from irritation for me to anger for the stranger. His jaw tightens as he glares at him.

“You better not say another word if you value your life.” He grits through his teeth.

I was shocked by his reaction. I never thought he would stand up for me. But he just took my side against someone who he probably values more than me.

I don't know how to feel about this but the positive thoughts in my mind right now are definitely wrong. I shouldn't expect anything from them. They'll just end up hurting me more than they already have.

But I still love that Ares didn't let me get disrespected. I’ve never had anyone other than grandpa, Tristan and his family speak up for me.

“You know we don't fuck with kids. Just because she lives here doesn't mean she's involved with any of us.” He adds.

It all makes sense now. It wasn't for me but for himself. He didn't appreciate the implications that he or his brothers might be a pedophile so he corrected him.

Why would he care if I was demean, degraded or slutshamed. He only cares about himself and the ones he considers family.

The stranger’s smirk fell off and he nodded with embarrassed expressions on his face. Alex looks visibly amused by the situation and keeps his eyes on Ares as if observing him.

Ares turn to me again. “You can go now.”

“You forgave me?” I ask, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

He sighs looking at me, as if I've mentally exhausted him in just minutes of my presence. “It's just a vase. Now go.”

“Thank you.”

I don’t wait to be told twice and rush out of there. Once I'm out, I finally relax. For some reason it was really intense back there and I wanted to dash out for so long.

I’ll make sure I don't mess up again as long as I'm stuck here.

I went to my room to take a nap since it was three pm and I'm physically tired from the unfortunate event that happened. As I lay down on my bed a single thought was consistent in my head till I fell asleep.

It could've been much worse.